My first gig in London since moving here 10 days ago comes in the form of a proper record label showcase. To be honest, I didn’t think they really did these things anymore as the last one I attended was many moons ago when I worked at Sony Music. It was quite refreshing to see a label dedicate an entire evening to three of their most promising artists.
The label is called Better Noise Records and it’s an imprint of Eleven Seven Music (Motley Crue, Sixx AM (which I’m hoping to shoot soon as I got denied last time in SF (hint hint)), Five Finger Death Punch, Papa Roach—you get the picture. Better Noise was created to support the new blood while Eleven Seven stays focused on the heritage acts. It makes perfect sense and it looks and sounds to me like they are off to a pretty good start.
First up that evening was Anavae, a female fronted rock band from London. Not really my cup of tea per-se, but I think this band could very easily find an audience. Falling somewhere between Paramore and Flyleaf—more towards the Flyleaf side as they definitely had the soaring choruses over substantially heavy riffs —the live show was solid. I took a listen to the band on Spotify the morning after and it’s pretty polished stuff ready for the masses. Again, not my bag but certainly there’s an audience out there waiting to jump all over this band.
Next up was From Ashes to New from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. These guys are sort of a mix of old-school nu-metal with a touch of EDM and post-hardcore. Pretty catchy stuff along with some brutally heavy riffs and a drummer that is an absolute beast make for some big choruses, catchy raps in between, tied together with some heavy-duty bottom end —these guys could potentially become a pretty big deal in 2016 if radio catches on. The two frontment worked the crowd pretty well while with one of them jumping into the audience and posing for a selfie with a fan who was losing his sh*t in a good way. (See meta photo below—photo of a selfie.)
The final band of the night, As Lions, was formed from the ashes of Rise to Remain and led by Austin Dickenson (Yes, Bruce’s son). These guys blew me away quite frankly. The band was tight, the songs were solid, and Dickenson’s voice was absolutely stellar. The new single “White Flags” is out now and I would imagine that a full length is to follow. As Lions plays the Download Festival this weekend and I wish I could be there to see these guys on a bigger stage. Look for big things from these guys in 2016 as I think they will be the flagship for Better Noise moving forward.
FROM ASHES TO NEW
AS LIONS
